5 Feminist News Stories You Might Have Missed This Week
Happy Friday, BUSTies! Are you as exhausted from the week as we are? Too busy being a boss lady to keep track of what to read? No need to fret—here are five news items to catch up on while you relax this weekend.
#WeAreBlackHistory. In this photo project celebrating Black History Month, women from contemporary media pay homage to important black women, posing as some of our favorite cultural icons.
Oregon installed our country’s first openly bisexual governor, Kate Brown. Yay Oregon! We should all be more like Oregon. Read More

It looks like Pussy Riot—the Russian feminist punk band who’ve served time for hooliganism, as if you could forget—is tackling even more social justice issues, and we couldn’t be more impressed. Earlier today, the band released the video for their first English language song, “I Can’t Breathe.”
Recorded during the anti-police brutality protests in New York City in December, both the video and the song are disturbing and visceral. Read More

The ladies of Pussy Riot are at it again. This time, however, they won’t be found at Christ the Savior Cathedral punking out in protest, and their balaclava’s need not be worn – their new project is all about transparency.
Started in September in collaboration with The Guardian’s New East network, MediaZona is Pussy Riot’s latest endeavor post jail time. Read More

This week's BBC Two Newsnight’s Encounters series, in which notable guests interview each other, featured music and film legends Patti Smith and David Lynch. The two discussed various topics, including Lynch’s Twin Peaks, the feminist band Pussy Riot and Bobby Vinton’s influence. Read More

Originally affecting change through their radical music performances while donning colorful ski masks, Pussy Riot’s next move to reform Russia is perhaps even bolder. Two of the original three members, Nadya Tolokonnikova and Maria Alekhina, are launching an independent news outlet, MediaZona. The focus of the project is to keep Russian citizens informed about the conditions of Russian prisons and courts, an issue these fearless females know all too well from serving time inside the system themselves. All of the content is in Russian. Read More

What is the role of fashion in feminism? Probably the question that us feminist-fashion buffs dread the most. I know I know, fashion is a “patriarchal invention designed to distract women from focusing on serious matters” yadayada- but yet again, those boots are SO CUTE, where did you get them?
If you’re like me, and this conflict has caused you a lot of inner turmoil, then you are in luck. Thanks to some powerful ladies in the industry, this fashion vs. Read More

After an altercation with the police during an Occupy Wall Street protest in March 2012, activist, Cecily McMillan, was unfairly convicted of second-degree assault, a felony and now faces up to seven years in prison.
"Cecily McMillan was found guilty of deliberately elbowing officer Grantley Bovell in the face as he led her out of a protest in March 2012. She has maintained that hers was a reaction to having her breast grabbed from behind by the officer. Cecily is well known among her Occupy peers as one of their staunchest advocates of non-violent protest. Read More

All of my wildest dreams just came true. Hillary Clinton and Pussy Riot have united and will now take the world by storm.
Okay, maybe they aren’t plotting world domination, but at least they have met and are now definitely friends. The controversial Russian pop duo Pussy Riot posed with Clinton backstage at Tina Brown’s Women in the World Summit last week, and it renewed my faith in humanity. Read More

It’s no secret that the members of Pussy Riot have not been warmly welcomed back into Russia. The absolutely repulsive video footage of members being attacked with whips and pepper spray has gone viral over the past couple of days.
Earlier today though, in Sochi, a press conference held by Pussy Riot in collaboration with Cinema For Peace and The Voice Project (organizations that utilize the powers of film and music to create and encourage social change), members spoke about their experiences in Olympic Sochi and specifically about their recent arrests. Read More

An open letter addressed to Masha Alyokhina and Nadya Tolokonnikova, (the two members of Pussy Riot who appeared at the Amnesty International Human Rights Concert at the Barclay Center in Brooklyn on Wednesday night and the same two who recently interviewed on the Colbert Report), by the still anonymous members of Pussy Riot stated quite simply that the two are no longer considered members of the group.
Their actions have been considered, by the remaining anonymous members, to contradict the very principles of Pussy Riot. Read More